Special Projects

ROUND: Cambridge

A city-wide sound art installationby Halsey Burgund

ROUND: Cambridge,created by artist Halsey Burgund, is a new city-wide, site-specific sound art installation. The project engages the general public through music and participant commentary via smartphone technology. Using Cambridge's impressive Public Art Collection and public spaces as a touch-point, citizens and visitors are able to participate by adding their thoughts, questions, and reflections to an ever-evolving composition encompassing the city. As a participant moves throughout the city, the person can record comments or listen to those left by others about a specific artwork or location. Users' comments immediately upload to the composition, adding a new auditory layer to the landscape.

The CAC Gallery was the original launching site (October 1 through November 23, 2012) for ROUND: Cambridge. Gallery viewers, and those without a smartphone, experienced the project and contributed to the composition in the recording booth at the CAC Gallery, located in the City Hall Annex at 344 Broadway, 2nd Floor, Cambridge.

Thispublic art project, commissioned by the Cambridge Arts Council, continues through the end 2014. Download the free ROUND: Cambridgeapp at iTunes.

As a public artwork, ROUND: Cambridge exists in the public domain, like the sculptures, murals and other public art around Cambridge. By allowing people to leave their mark on the landscape, Cambridge is transformed into a collective audio work.

About the Artist

Halsey Burgund is a musician and sound artist living in Greater Boston. Both his installations and musical performances make extensive use of spoken human voice recordings as musical elements, alongside traditional and electronic instruments. Halsey has exhibited and performed in museums and galleries throughout the country, including the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, the Museum of Science, Boston and the California Academy of Sciences. He was awarded a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship in 2011 to explore their audio archives for future work.

ROUND: Cambridge Partners & SupportCambridge Arts Council acknowledges the support and partnership of the City of Cambridge Mayor's Summer Youth Employment Program, in addition to funding through the National Endowment of the Arts and Massachusetts Cultural Council.